Slowly Getting Older
by hundredtimes
Summary: It's hard to grow up when you still think of yourself as a kid. Multi-Chaptered. Mainly Wally/Artemis, Dick/Babs.
1. Chapter 1

The mission was over, the bruises were iced, and the cuts were bandaged, and the filth washed off. They stood around the control room during the debriefing, each member more exhausted than the last. But alive, miraculously, again. When Batman released them no one bothered to move to the zeta tubes, instead opting to head straight to the rooms they had claimed as their bed away from home. Artemis was one of the last ones to leave the debriefing. Batman had wanted to ask her more questions about what she thought her father's cryptic message that night had meant. She had no idea, and she relished in it. It had been four years since joining the team, since leaving behind the lessons her father had taught her in favor of helping people. In favor of being one of the good guys.

With a wry smile she made her way to her room, when she opened the door she froze before letting the smile spread to her eyes. Lying on her bed, his shirt on the floor and his arms behind his head was her speedster boyfriend. "What are you doing, Wally?" She asked in a fake bored voice before closing the door behind her. She put her hands on her hips and pretended to glare at him, something that was still so easy to do.

"I thought you could use the company tonight." He said simply.

"I'm exhausted, Babe." She said, letting her arms drop to her sides and her head loll back. It wasn't a lie at all, she really was exhausted. After two exams and a paper due in her classes, she'd had to report to Mt. Justice and leave for a mission, that ended up lasting until two in the morning. She was only able to find solace in remembering it was a Friday night.

He laughed, "I just said I thought you could use the company, you're the one with the dirty mind." He said as he raised an eyebrow. "Dirty, dirty mind," he joked. She laughed and crawled onto the bed before straddling his waist. He moved his arms from under his head to rest his hands on her hips. "Well this isn't fair." He said with a straight face before they both chuckled. He rubbed his hands up and down her back in a comforting motion. "Seriously though, I just missed you."

"We just had a mission together, you just saw me ten minutes ago!" She was laughing as she rested her hands on his chest.

"I know that! Doesn't mean I didn't miss you though."

"You're ridiculous."

"You're adorable."

She smacked his chest lightly, "insatiable."

"Irresistible."

"Are you saying I'm irresistible, or are you correcting me?"

He was quite a moment, "can't I mean both?" She laughed before climbing off of him and putting her feet on the ground. She walked to her dresser and pulled her shirt over her head, hearing Wally moaned she turned to face him, "Yes?"

"Nothing, just admiring the view."

"M-hmm," She rolled her eyes and turned back around, slipping her pants down her legs, opening up the drawer with her soft shorts and t-shirts she grabbed a mismatched set and yanked them on.

"Well, you're no fun at all tonight."

She ignored him as she pulled her hair down, letting it fall over her shoulders, "And you're loving every second of it," she said simply, knowing it was true, before turning back around and making her way to the bed, she resumed her position over his lap but this time he sat up and held her close. He kissed her, sweet and passionately. She felt herself lean back slightly with the force of his kiss while his hands on her back pulled her towards him. She twined her arms around his neck and moaned against his mouth.

He pulled back and smiled, "and I thought you were too tired." She just pushed him hard against the bed before taking off her top and reaching down for his lips to shut him up. Later as she searched for her shirt to take away the chill that was setting over her, Wally reached for her and pulled her close. "Why don't you spend the weekend at mine?" He asked as he nuzzled into her neck. She just laughed and sat up to pull the shirt back over her head.

"Because I spend every weekend at yours. I think you're roommate thinks I live there," she said with a laugh, "the other day he said I should pitch in for the groceries. I'm thinking I should just pay rent at this point."

Wally was silent for a second and his arm froze around her, and she pulled herself away from him slightly, more than a little hurt by his response. Was the idea of her living with him too farfetched to even joke about? Sure she'd thought about it, they'd been in college for a year, they'd been sleeping together even longer. They were happy together. It was something she thought about bringing up from time to time, just to discuss it. But it seemed he thought the idea was so unprompted that she didn't even know how to salvage the conversation.

"Look, Wally. I was just kidding, and I'm pretty sure he was too. It's not like I _want_ to move in with you, or something." She smacked the arm that was still around her waist, though barely, before snuggling into her pillow, even farther away from him.

She felt him puff a large breath of air against the back of her head. "Are you sure?" He was quiet, and she could hear the hesitation.

She twisted around to face him, "am I sure about what?"

He shook his head and repositioned his arm so that he could tangle his fingers in her hair. "It's just- I've been thinking and-" He paused and looked into her eyes, she saw him gulp before he took a deep breath, "look, my lease runs out next month, and I've been thinking about it a _lot_, and you're right, you're always over anyway-" He stalled and looked over her shoulder.

"Wally...?"

He looked back into her eyes, "move in with me."

She put her left hand on his cheek and leapt up to kiss him as he leaned back and pulled her on top of him, his hands running up and down her back before resting his right against the base of her skull and his left at the dip of her waist.

"I love you, too, Artemis." She only shook her head and kissed him once more before sliding off him to rest her head into his shoulder, blissfully drifting into sleep knowing she wouldn't have to worry about an alarm waking her up in a few hours.


	2. Chapter 2

No matter what the apartment was, they couldn't agree on it. Artemis liked the price of this one, Wally liked the location of that one. Gate versus gym versus elevators versus amount of freshmen. Nothing they looked at was good enough for both of them. They had an appointment at a complex that afternoon. Some place too far from campus to even be worth it, but the price was attractive enough to give it a try. But as they came through the Zeta Tubes Dick knew it had been a wasted trip.

"It didn't even have a gate!"

"It was in the middle of no where!"

"EXACTLY!"

"There were kids playing in the street, Wally. It didn't exactly look like a dangerous neighborhood."

"Well after Gotham I bet most of the world seems like a safe place to raise a family" There wasn't even a beat before he tried to salvage what he had just said, and she turned and walked away, "Wait- no- Artemis, I didn't mean it like that!" But she was already too far down the hall to even hear him. Most likely to find Zatanna and share his latest fumble.

Wally dropped himself into the couch next to Dick and put his hands over his face before groaning loudly, "well you sound pathet-."

"Shut up."

Artemis flipped the pencil again, trying to get it to spin on her fingers, something she was normally capable of. It fell to the floor again. She picked it up again. She tried flipping the pencil again. "ekam ti raeppasid!" Zatanna threw her magazine down and moved to Artemis's side of the bed as the pencil vanished from Artemis's hand. "Talk."

Artemis sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "Fine," she turned and pulled her knee onto the bed, "it's Wally-"

"I had no idea."

Artemis glared but continued without interruption, "None of the apartments we look at are good enough, or there must be something wrong with it that we can't see. I mean, take today. It was a little too far away, but we could make it work. It was in a quiet neighborhood; it was cheaper than a lot of places we've been looking at... But he thinks it_ must_ be unsafe because of it's price and that it doesn't have a gate."

"What?"

"I said how it looked safe enough to not need one and now he says it's not safe enough. He's convinced that I can't tell what's a good area because of where I grew up."

"Did he say that?" Zatanna asked incredulously.

"Basically! He said that the rest of the world must seem safe compared to Gotham."

Zatanna sighed heavily, "have you tried talking to him about it?"

Artemis glanced away, "not really, no."

"Okay," Zatanna shot up and grabbed her best friends arm, "I'm not going to let you sit here and mope about it." She pushed Artemis to the door. "You're moving in with him, you need to talk to him about this, not me." With that the door slid closed.

She just stood staring at the door before nodding, turning to the kitchen and walking down the hall. Neither of them were acting like themselves; this whole moving in together thing was taking a lot out of both of them. She'd even admitted to Barbara that she was afraid every fight they had would be the end of them as a couple. Barbara told her she was crazy, but Artemis knew every time they fought the last line got worse and more hurtful. It wouldn't be long before one of them said something they couldn't take back.

It was time to lay everything out in the open and hope they would walk out of the discussion together.

Dick was trying to make out what Wally was trying to say around the cupcake he'd shoved into his mouth. Thankfully, years of being best friends allowed him a fairly accurate translation and he was not happy with what he was hearing.

"Dude, you told her she grew up in the slums."

"No I didn't. I said she had a... skewed view... of the world... because of where she grew up..." Even as he said it he knew he sounded like an idiot. Totally one of those things that sounded way better in his head than out loud.

Even Dick knew it and raised his eyebrow behind his shades. "No, you're right, that sounds way better than saying she grew up in the slums."

Wally threw his head back, "I just want her to understand that I want us to live somewhere safe. We've been super heroes since we were in high school, I don't want to have to worry about always being on guard while I'm sleeping. It's okay to spend a few extra bucks for something secure, for something with nice amenities. That's the other thing she doesn't agree with me on. I don't want to have to drive an hour to campus just to save a hundred bucks, ya know?"

Dick just sighed, "I dunno, man. Maybe you should take it a little easy on her. She's not an idiot."

"I don't think she is! I just- I'm just worried, and I'm stressing out. I just-" He took a deep breath, "I want our first place to be perfect." He was looking down at his hands so he didn't notice when Dick's mouth gaped open and both his eyebrows nearly shot into his hair. Or the smirk that quickly took over his face.

"First place. As in: next time it's going to have a big enough back yard for all your babies?" Wally couldn't hide the tug of his lips as his best friend teased him. "First comes love, then comes marriage," Dick's off key nursery rhyme was cut short by Wally lunging for him to make him shut up.

They were laughing as they held off each other's arms while simultaneously trying to hit the other. That was the scene Artemis came upon when she walked into the kitchen and watched them through the doorway. She smiled as she watched the two wrestle. "Is there something you need to tell me, Kid?"

Wally's head twisted around, and his smile got even wider, holding no grudge about their earlier argument, probably hoping she planned on forgetting it even happened. It was in that second of distraction that Nightwing was finally able to land a smack on the back of Wally's head. While Wally rubbed the back of his head and gave a mock glare to his best friend, the Zeta tubes activated. "Recognized, Batgirl, B-1-6"

Artemis had to hold in her chuckle as Nightwing nearly gave himself whiplash as he turned for the mission control room, most likely to try to impress Barbara in some strange way, Wally caught Artemis's eye and they shared a smile. They both knew exactly where this was going, and where it had already delved a few times in the past. "Your boyfriend is a womanizer," Artemis teased.

"You love his taste in girls, don't lie. They're your best friends. It's like the two of you are the same person."

"Well that explains why you're still with me."

He just smirked, "Babe, I'm still with you because I love you." At least he still knew she was pissed and was trying to make up for it instead of sweeping it under the rug. Small improvements.

She gave him a content smile, before sighing heavily, and saying, "Wally, we need to talk." She turned to head for her room, knowing he'd know to follow her, but not before she caught the heartbreak written on his face.

She beat him to her room. When she closed the door behind his shuffling feet he grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight hug, his lips falling to her neck, kissing her through the loose hair that covered it. He was breathing deeply and seemed to be mumbling something, she pushed him away, ready to reassure him that no, she didn't mean 'we need to talk' as some sort of code. That they just needed to talk about what was happening with this damned apartment search, that they needed to figure out why they couldn't decide on a single place, or even a single feature. They couldn't even agree on what place would be nice, and what should be crossed off the list. But as she pushed him away and she saw the broken look in his eyes she just smiled and pulled him closer for a deep kiss. "I'm not. Breaking. Up with. You." She got out between heated nips on his bottom lip.

He jerked away then and he let out the biggest sigh of relief she'd ever heard, "You should really never use that sentence after a fight, Babe." He said, a nervous chuckle in his throat.

"Sorry," she whispered as she disentangled herself from him. She moved past him and sat on her bed, he followed her and sat in the chair at her desk. "Look, we need to figure out if we're really ready to move in together. We can't agree on freaking anything, and we're going to have to sign a lease soon-"

"I know…"

"Wally, what is going on with us?" She was looking at the legs of the chair as he took a deep breath to answer her.

"I'm scared," he finally whispered after a few moments of silence.

She paused, stricken, finally looking at his face she reached an arm out and rested it on his knee, "what are you afraid of? You're Kid Flash, I'm Artemis. Babe, we kick bad guy ass for a living," she finished in a dead pan voice.

He laughed, "not like that. What if we-" He looked away as he finished his thought, "what if we don't make it?"

"…Don't make it where?"

"No- I mean- What if we move in together and everything just," he stood up and put his hands on her desk, facing away from her, "falls apart." She had to strain to his the end of his sentence.

"We're not going to fall apart because we move in together."

"We might! What if you don't like that I snore-"

"I already know you snore, I'm used to it."

"Or how I eat-"

"That's kind of a 'take it or leave it' sort of situation with you."

"Fine! What if we just get on each other's nerves so much, all the little things pile up and we don't say anything about it, and it just builds and builds until we can't take it anymore and we blow up and you're leaving to be with Stan from Math class and I can't tell you that I wanted to propose!" It was quiet for a second as Wally caught his breath. She stared at him, his flushed cheeks, his parted lips, and the sudden look of terror as he realized what he said. "I DON'T WANT TO PROPOSE!" was all he said but then the smacked his forehead and groaned as he turned away from her again and sunk into her chair.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked with a scrunched brow.

She barely made out, "I have no fucking idea" from his muffled voice. He lowered his hands and looked at her with the most imploring eyes. "I was talking to Uncle Barry the other day during patrols about moving in together, and he told me about when he and Aunt Iris were dating, they got into this fight and she almost left him when he wanted to propose to her, and then I keep having this dream about you leaving me for '_Steamy Stan'_ from Math class." Artemis chortled at the frilly voice he applied to the nickname she and Babs called the cute guy in her Math class.

"How the hell do you even know about that?" She asked through her laughter.

Wally rubbed his neck and groaned, "I heard you talking about it last week." He was blushing as red as his hair at this point and she made an effort to swallow her laughs.

"Wally," she started in a soothing voice, "you know I would never-"

"No I know!" He was quick to throw out, before breathing out, "I know." He smiled at her, and she smiled back. He reached a hand out and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I love when you wear your hair down."

"I know." She leaned forward and began to situate herself on his lap before pulling her lips away from his at the last second, "but we still need to do some thing about this apartment hunt." Wally rolled his eyes and leaned back against her desk, his right arm, draping over the back of the chair.

He put his arms around her waist and shifted her higher on his lap, "I really liked that second floor walk up…" He finally said quietly. She stared at him. The walk up was one of the first places they looked at, and she had immediately fallen in love with it. He'd said he didn't like the idea of basically living in someone else house, no matter how many times she explained that wasn't what it was. "I still don't like living in someone else's house-" he shot her a teasing wink as she opened her mouth to protest. "But I think I can live with it."

"You know I loved it."

"Yea I do. So… Do you want to live in a walk up on Waverly Street with me, Artemis?"

She smiled wide and leaned forward, hitching her hips up even more on his lap, "yes, I do." He smiled into the kiss and picked her up, her legs wrapping around him as he took the single step to the bed before leaning them both down on top of it.


	3. Chapter 3

The light was off and Wally was tangled in the sheets, his bare torso exposed. Artemis knew he was sleeping now so he could go to Central City and patrol with his uncle that night, and that he really needed to grab sleep when he could, it was the same for her. But she found his chest too tempting and dropped her books at the kitchen table before heading down the hall to their bedroom. She slipped off her shoes quietly before crawling up next to him and sliding into the crook his arm made that seemed to fit her body perfectly. He moaned at the sudden increase in pressure but only draped his arm over her shoulder before hugging her close to him. "You do know I have to sleep right?" He mumbled in a half-yawn.

She cringed and looked up, "Sorry, Babe. You just looked too tempting."

"You say that every time."

"Because it's true," he then opened his eyes and winked down at her.

She kissed his chest before snuggling back in, "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"I know." She could tell he was already falling back asleep and she felt her eyes get too heavy as well.

When she opened them again it was only the yellow streetlight shining through the blinds. 'Dammit' she thought. She couldn't afford taking such a long nap on a Wednesday. Wally didn't have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and could afford to sleep in once he got back from patrolling sometime before Barry had to head to work, but Artemis still had an early class. She wasn't going to get any sleep soon so she made her way to the kitchen to start the piles of homework she had to get started on. She heard clinking and the sounds of her boyfriend trying to muffle the pans as he pulled them from their place under the stove.

"What are you still doing here?" She asked him.

He jumped and she could only see the blur of him catching the frying pan with his super speed before it hit the ground. "Morning, Alice, how was your trip to Wonderland?" He teased with a wink.

"Oh, you know. Made out with this crazy red-head." She came up behind him and kissed his neck, "what're you making?"

"Breakfast. We've got a long night, Babe."

"_We_?"

"Nightwing called, we're expected at the cave in two hours for a mission." For once he didn't sound very pleased about the idea of them teaming up on the same mission. A rare occurrence in recent months.

"I'm not on duty tonight," she said, partly curious why her boyfriend was acting like he was, and more than a little frustrated at the change of plans. Part of the agreement from the beginning of their starting college was that they would only be called on missions when they were on duty. When they were in high school she was sure it was some sort of law. But now, it was more of a stipulation for them to be able to handle a full course load AND extra curricular activities.

Wally looked at the piles of boxes they still had to unpack, stacked in the living room. "He thought you might want in on this one." He ran a hand through his hair and she raised a skeptical eyebrow. "It's your dad."

"Oh." She looked around the kitchen, looked for anything to distract her.

"I can tell him you didn't-"

"No. You know I can't miss an opportunity to show him whose side I choose." Wally didn't say anything, knowing it was a useless argument on his part.

He sighed and nodded, "Yea, I know that." At his cold voice, Artemis walked out of the kitchen and into the bedroom without a word. It was an argument they both hated to have. But one they seemed to always come to. It had gotten to the point that when one of them said a snide comment about it, the other would just turn and leave, conversation dropped, mood ruined for at least a day. As though instead of wasting breath on fighting, they already knew the outcome would be the silent treatment. But when Artemis came back out with her uniform stuffed in its duffle bag and her bow in her hand. With that, Wally couldn't let it drop. She never let _him_ get away with his bullshit, and he wasn't going to watch her fall into her father's hands. "I don't want you to go."

It was obvious Artemis didn't expect him to say anything about it. Her eyes bulged, "you don't exactly get a say, Wally." She said indigently.

"I don't, but I get an opinion, and as your boyfriend I get the right to worry about you." He ran a hand through his hair, "He wants this, Artemis. Sportsmaster _wants _you to go out there, and fight him, and show him up because that's what he taught you to do. Every single time you fight him on our side, he knows your using what HE taught you."

"I'm using what Green Arrow taught me too! And the hand-to-hand combat Black Canary taught me! I'm not just a product of my dad!" He knew he was loosing quick

"DAMMIT ARTEMIS I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!"

"WELL YOU'RE MAKING ME FEEL LIKE SHIT, SO YOU'RE NOT DOING A VERY GOOD JOB ARE YOU?" They were both breathing hard as they glared at each other across the kitchen. "You seem worked up, maybe you should sit this one out, Kid." Her voice was barely a whisper as she picked up her duffle from the floor and turned to leave the apartment.

Wally ran his fingers through his hair and huffed. He looked to the stovetop, where his omelet was still cooking, and at the door his girlfriend was now walking out of. He moved the pan off the burner and clicked it off at super speed before zipping to stand in her way. She walked right into him before she even saw him.

"Dammit," she cursed as she tried to steady herself, but he grabbed her arms and held her close.

"I know what it does to you every time, and I hate seeing it. You're not him, you _know_ I _know_ that. But every time you fight him you know what he sees. He's just biding his time, waiting for the day you turn sides and hand us over."

"Do you think I'd do that?"

"You know I don't."

"Then why is this such a big deal?!"

"Because every fucking time we fight him you- you go into this shell! You hide away for days and when you come back you pretend like nothing happened. Fighting him does something to you, and I hate seeing you like that! I love you, Artemis, I hate seeing it destroy you."

Artemis just looked away. They both knew he was right. "I can't be put out of commission just because my dad's the villain the week." She sounded defeated and determined at the same time.

He leaned down and kissed her, "I don't expect you to. But you can't keep doing this every time we fight him, either."

She looked up at him, "It's been four years. You'd think I'd be used to it. But he's my dad."

"I don't think its something you should _ever_ have to get used to. It's messed up. But you don't have to be alone. I'm here. Zee is here, M'gann is here, we're ALL here for you." He kissed her again, "but mainly I'm here." They both laughed and deepened their kiss. "We better go, we'll be late."

"You still have to eat, Wall-man." She poked his stomach and chuckled when it growled in return. "You're going to break me one of these days." He slung his arm over her shoulders and they walked back to the kitchen. "And you're making me an omelet as an apology."

He winked, "that's fair."


End file.
